In response to the tricky problem, raised by Hume, of the relationship between causality and freedom, Kant came up with the concept of two kinds of causality: causality of nature and causality of freedom. While the f...In response to the tricky problem, raised by Hume, of the relationship between causality and freedom, Kant came up with the concept of two kinds of causality: causality of nature and causality of freedom. While the former belongs in the phenomenal realm in the context of speculative reason, the latter, no more than a negative notion in the transcendental realm of things-in-themselves, nevertheless acquires actual objectivity in the context of practical reason. What causality of freedom confirms is freedom in the transcendental rather than the psychological sense. As Kant saw it, these two kinds of causality coexist in divided form in man, who is an existing being both in the realm of phenomena and in that of things-in-themselves. After Kant, it was Marx who, critically synthesizing the contributions of Hegel and Sehopenhauer, succeeded in revealing the hidden answer to the question of Kant's concept of two kinds of causality. That is productive labor, which implies both the dimension of goals and the causality of freedom and that of the causality of nature and historical causality. In the context of Marx's historical materialism, productive labor emerges as a kingdom of necessity at the very basis of the kingdom of freedom.展开更多
文摘In response to the tricky problem, raised by Hume, of the relationship between causality and freedom, Kant came up with the concept of two kinds of causality: causality of nature and causality of freedom. While the former belongs in the phenomenal realm in the context of speculative reason, the latter, no more than a negative notion in the transcendental realm of things-in-themselves, nevertheless acquires actual objectivity in the context of practical reason. What causality of freedom confirms is freedom in the transcendental rather than the psychological sense. As Kant saw it, these two kinds of causality coexist in divided form in man, who is an existing being both in the realm of phenomena and in that of things-in-themselves. After Kant, it was Marx who, critically synthesizing the contributions of Hegel and Sehopenhauer, succeeded in revealing the hidden answer to the question of Kant's concept of two kinds of causality. That is productive labor, which implies both the dimension of goals and the causality of freedom and that of the causality of nature and historical causality. In the context of Marx's historical materialism, productive labor emerges as a kingdom of necessity at the very basis of the kingdom of freedom.